Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Numismatist In Me Loves Stories Like This

A group of divers in Israel has stumbled upon the largest hoard of
gold coins ever discovered in the country. The divers reported the find
to the Israel Antiquities Authority,
and nearly 2,000 coins dating back to the Fatimid period, or the
eleventh century, were salvaged by the authority’s Marine Archaeology
Unit. The find was unearthed from the seabed of the ancient harbor in
Caesarea National Park, according to a press release from the Israel
Antiquities Authority.

“The discovery of such a large hoard of coins that had such
tremendous economic power in antiquity raises several possibilities
regarding its presence on the seabed,” said Kobi Sharvit, director of
the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in the
release. “There is probably a shipwreck there of an official treasury
boat which was on its way to the central government in Egypt with taxes
that had been collected.”